California-based Islamic State Supporter Amer Alhaggagi Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison

This is yet another example of the inadequacy of the U.S. criminal justice system for dealing with Jihad.

Amer Alhaggagi of California was an admitted Islamic State “supporter.” He set up Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus/Gmail accounts for other Islamic State supporters and posted terroristic threats online.

He even identified targets for an Islamic State member who turned out to be an undercover federal agent.

In the process of all this, he also ran an identity theft operation.

For all this he has been sentenced to just over 15 years in prison. Alhaggagi is 23 years old. When his assigned sentence ends, he will be 38 years old. But the reality is that he will be released sooner than 15 years if he behaves himself in prison.

So we have to HOPE that when he does get out of prison, he will have turned into a peaceful, patriotic American. Excuse me for being skeptical. Given the level of Jihadi activity in America’s prisons, it is just as likely that Alhaggagi will emerge from prison even more dedicated to Jihad.

This is part of a wider pattern. According to the George Washington University Program on Extremism, 123 Islamic State members or supporters in America have been convicted of various crimes over the past few years.

The average sentence for these convicts was 13.5 years. And it is highly likely that these people will NOT serve their entire sentences.

What will become of these jihadis when they get out of prison? Where will they go? What will they do?

America needs to overhaul its sentences for terrorist-related offenses and it desperately needs a terrorist offender registry modeled after the sex offender registry that has worked successfully for decades.